Friday, October 11, 2013
Web Tool 2.0- Voki!
The first night I walked into Education 584 I thought I was ready to quit. I am terrible at technology!! I had no idea what a Wiki, a Weebly, a WeVideo, a Blog, a Voki, or any of it was. It sounded like a completely different language! One thing I did know, is that I was completely against putting any assignment my students had done on the internet. I'm not even on Facebook. I started doing the Cassidy readings, going to class, started the blog. Little by little I started to change my mind. I saw how Cassidy's first graders successfully used many forms of technology to communicate and learn. I started to enjoy blogging and making animotos. I had fun creating a digital story. But what I realized most of all, was that my students absolutely loved it! They loved making the Animoto! They learned idioms with Jen's students by making a digital story. My whole third grade class made a digital story to teach their parents and peers about character traits in stories! The kids were hooked! They wanted to do more with technology. In the last 8 weeks my attitude has completely changed towards technology in the classroom. I see how motivating it is for my students to learn using all sorts of technology. I see how they enjoy connecting with others outside their classroom. I see how they want to teach others using digital stories and how the use of an authentic audience encourages them on to create. My third grade co-teacher and I are turning my weebly into our 3rd grade website and we will next add a blog! I have learned that technology is not something to fear. Instead, it is a creative tool that allows us to reach a global audience. It motivates the kids and it allows me to teach them with a tool that they are used to communicating with and enjoy!
The first night I walked into Education 584 I thought I was ready to quit. I am terrible at technology!! I had no idea what a Wiki, a Weebly, a WeVideo, a Blog, a Voki, or any of it was. It sounded like a completely different language! One thing I did know, is that I was completely against putting any assignment my students had done on the internet. I'm not even on Facebook. I started doing the Cassidy readings, going to class, started the blog. Little by little I started to change my mind. I saw how Cassidy's first graders successfully used many forms of technology to communicate and learn. I started to enjoy blogging and making animotos. I had fun creating a digital story. But what I realized most of all, was that my students absolutely loved it! They loved making the Animoto! They learned idioms with Jen's students by making a digital story. My whole third grade class made a digital story to teach their parents and peers about character traits in stories! The kids were hooked! They wanted to do more with technology. In the last 8 weeks my attitude has completely changed towards technology in the classroom. I see how motivating it is for my students to learn using all sorts of technology. I see how they enjoy connecting with others outside their classroom. I see how they want to teach others using digital stories and how the use of an authentic audience encourages them on to create. My third grade co-teacher and I are turning my weebly into our 3rd grade website and we will next add a blog! I have learned that technology is not something to fear. Instead, it is a creative tool that allows us to reach a global audience. It motivates the kids and it allows me to teach them with a tool that they are used to communicating with and enjoy!Overall, I have used Animoto, WeVideo, IMovie, StoryBird, Weebly, Twitter, Google Docs, Google Hangouts with Kathy Cassidy and Will Richardson, Voki, Blogging with Iowa students, Blogging with classmates and Judy, Blogging in general...Which of these have you used? Which is your favorite?
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I am right there with you Tara! I too was very fearful of putting student work on the internet. However, the motivation that students get from these tools is absolutely unrivaled.
ReplyDeleteI am impressed, you used your own voice. You are really branching out!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more! I knew less than you going into this, and now I feel more confident with how to use all of these tools - great job!
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